Best 3 things I Did My First Month Blogging

Well, I published my first recipe on March 17, 2017 so that means that I have officially had my site up and running for one whole month. Wow, time flies. Blogging has kept me very busy this past month. So far, I have a total of 7 posts (8 including this one!) and 5 recipes. Though I know it wasn’t consistent, that averages about 3 new posts a week. I have spent entire days on the computer working on this site. At this point, I feel very proud of my progress but admittedly, a little tired. I gave myself the weekend off from this blog and all social media aspects of it. I started this week feeling so refreshed and ready for the new month!

Okay, maybe I lied. I didn’t take the whole weekend off. I installed a new theme on Sunday night. I’m so happy with the way my site looks now. Besides that, I spent the rest of the weekend cooking and relaxing. It was a great weekend.

I had a lot of time to reflect on what I need to be doing to push my site towards greater success. Before I jump in to what I feel are the best 3 things that I have done so far, I want to publicly set some goals for myself.

Goals for month 2:

Have 100 mail subscribers by the end of the month. Right now, I have 10 wonderful subscribers. I’ll accomplish this goal by being persistent in uploading quality content every week, being active on social media, and continuing to perfect the layout and presentation of my blog.

Create a new email account that is only for Pearl Innovations. Why do I keep putting this off? I probably should have done this from the start. For some reason, I waited for it. I have two other email accounts right now. The first one has over 3,000 emails. The second one has over 40,000 emails. Enough said.

Figure out Pinterest Group Boards. So many people talk about Pinterest group boards. Apparently, they do wonders for driving traffic to your site. However, I cannot figure them out for the life of me. By the end of this month, I want to be participating in these mysterious group boards.

There are so many blog posts out there today aimed at helping other bloggers. Now, I only have one month of experience but I have learned a lot in the past month. I want to help other bloggers that might be struggling to get their site up and running.

The best 3 things I’ve done within my first month blogging:

Had content prepared.

Created a StumbleUpon account.

Joined blogging Facebook Groups.

Content

Before starting my site, I had a growing list of everything I wanted to put on it. I also wrote quite a few of these posts out before the official launch. I organized these posts into folders on the computer and added pictures that I would use into these folders. This was definitely very helpful when I started my site. I could spend more time designing my site and building my social media accounts than preparing content. If you are just starting your blog, or are thinking of starting one soon, I highly recommend preparing some content and many content ideas in advance.

How many new bloggers are out there asking themselves “what if I run out of ideas”? This was me a few months ago. That is why I started writing an idea list in the first place. To be honest, only a fraction of the posts I have been writing are from my list. I no longer have the insecurity that I might run out of ideas anytime soon and it is a great backup to look at when I need some topic inspiration. Additionally, I continue to add ideas to it regularly. It is quite a long list at this point.

StumbleUpon

What is StumbleUpon? Yep, that was me when I first heard about it. StumbleUpon is where I have been getting a large portion of my views from this past month. StumbleUpon is a website that randomly generates webpages based on a user’s interests. So, if you have a blog, you can add each of your posts to StumbleUpon and the site will randomly show it to people that are interested in the topic you wrote about. When I first found out about this site, two thoughts popped into my head:

I could easily waste an entire day on this site.

I bet this will bring a lot of unique visitors to my site!

Both thoughts turned out to be true. The site is truly a great idea. I’m glad I discovered it so early.

Facebook Groups

Besides StumbleUpon and other social media sites, how do I attract new visitors to my site? Blogging Facebook Groups. These groups are designed for bloggers to connect with other bloggers and support one another. Different groups serve different purposes. I am a part of a few groups that are strictly for bloggers to ask each other questions about blogging. People are usually more than happy to help and I’ve gotten some answers to things that were a bit confusing to me. In other groups, you can promote social media sites and blog posts. There are even groups dedicated towards promoting specific social media accounts (like Instagram or Pinterest). The easiest ways to find groups to join is to just search for some on Facebook. Once you join a few, Facebook will start recommending more and more. There are seriously so many options to choose from!

Odds are you found yourself on my page because of one of the things mentioned above. I want to take a second to say thank you for your support. I must say that I am overwhelmed by how easily accessible these amazing tools are to help promote my site. While I have learned a lot this month, I know there is still so much more to discover. Did I miss anything? What are the best methods you have used to promote your blog? What are your future goals? Let me know in the comments!!

Comments

Added myself to your email list. Followed you on Twitter. Great it’s and ideas from someone a month ahead of me in the process! Looking forward to what you blog about the Pinterest thing. Thanks for the tips!

Very interesting post! I have been blogging for three months now and am also getting there slowly. There is sooo much to learn! Thanks for your tips and report!
Love from Austria,
Theresahttp://www.primetimechaos.com

Good for you! There is so much to figure out this blogging. I am also trying to figure out PInterest group boards. THere is so much to know and it is always changing. It is hard to know where to begin. I love that you just choose three goals-I think that is a great way to create motivation!

I wish that I would have joined Facebook groups when I first started. They have really helped me to grow my blog. I also wish that I would have had prepared content ahead of launching. Now, after two and a half years of blogging, I always have three months of content ready to go, with at least one month pretty much 100% done. That way, I can take a day (or several days) off and not have to fret about it.

I wish I would have joined FB groups at the start, I struggled so much just get views in the beginning months and I needed feedback. While I am still new to it all, it helps to have feedback and views from others that are not personal to you and tell you really what they think of your content. Working ahead helps as well.

I need to start working ahead of schedule. That might make things a lot easier for me! I agree..I have gotten so much helpful and welcoming advice from many people so far. The groups really make a great online community.

Hey! This post was great. I’m also a new blogger and I’m super new to all that is being an active social media user and this post has some great tips in it 🙂 keep up the good work and I’ll keep popping by 🙂
Sian

Congratulations on your first month of blogging! We are in month two so I totally understand how you feel. There is so much to learn out there. I keep hearing about the Pinterest groups but to be honest I don’t have much luck with garnering traffic to our blog from there. So I will definitely be looking forward to read about what you learn regarding the Pinterest groups. I never heard of StumbleUpon until now so I am actually going to check that out now. lol

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About Me

Hi there! I’m Kaitlynn.
I write about the things I love. What do I love? Creating new recipes, making innovative crafting projects, embarking on new journeys, looking at animal pictures and drinking coffee.